The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently considers an average of just 3.4 micrograms per liter of the pesticide, atrazine, to be an acceptable level.
But a new proposal released this week raises that level to 9.7 micrograms — saying nearly three times as much of the substance can be present in the environment.
Under the draft plan, actions will need to be taken to mitigate potential impacts when levels in the environment exceed the 9.7 microgram level.
Lori Ann Burd, environmental health program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, slammed the proposal.
“Atrazine is so toxic, even in microscopic amounts, and so extremely persistent, that effective mitigation is just impossible,” Burd said in a statement.
“But the EPA keeps bending over backward to accommodate growers who insist on drenching our nation’s food, fiber and fuel with atrazine at the expense of public health and the environment,” she said.
Atrazine is used on many U.S. crops, including corn and sugarcane. It has been banned in the European Union and several other countries and has been found to disrupt the endocrine system.
When the EPA previously signaled it would update the safety threshold for atrazine in July, the agency said it did so after examining 11 studies with its independent Scientific Advisory Panel and later reevaluating two additional studies.
The Biden administration’s move is just a proposal. It’s unclear what will happen to atrazine under the incoming Trump administration.
Read more at TheHill.com.
